“Careful!”
The three Heaven Realm elites jumped up at the same time. Their weapons flashed, and together with the Undying Bird, they formed a defensive shield from spirit energy. It cut through the rock, which had a diameter of more than one meter long.
But even if the rock was reduced to fist-sized stones, there were many of them, and they came down on the group like a storm.
Caught off guard, many people were struck.
Even with the superhumans’ powerful bodies, they were hit to the point that they bled.
A lot of the exploratory equipment was also destroyed and buried under stones.
“Look!” An observant person pointed at a white figure that shot past a wall. “There’s someone over there!”
“The entire wall is about to collapse, run!” Lin Chuan shouted fiercely. “Lu Fengying, protect the lady! Scimitar, pay attention to the area! I’ll go up and look!”
He had the Undying Bird and the best aerial skills among the three Heaven Realm fighters, so he should be the one who went up to check.
His beast soul turned into a pair of blood-red wings and bounced away the stones that kept falling on them.
Lin Chuan shot like lightning above the wall.
Unfortunately, at that moment, the entire wall collapsed and stirred up a lot of dust. Lin Chuan and the white shadow vanished. The group could only hear the sounds of fierce fighting and see the ripples from spirit energy surging forward like waves.
Boom! Rumble!
The entire wall collapsed, blocking off the path they took to come over.
Fortunately, Lin Chuan had alerted them in time, which was why they escaped the disaster itself, even if just barely.
However, the thigh of one of the mine explorers was squashed to a bloody pulp, and he suffered a comminuted fracture.
Even after the dust settled, everyone still felt shocked.
Lin Chuan flew over with a piece of shattered stone in his hand. It had a runic symbol. He handed it to Lu Siya and Zhang Weiyan.
“I didn’t manage to see the man’s face clearly, but I think it was Frenzied Saber’s Nie Kuang. I wanted to make sure, but I sensed an incredibly sharp gaze trained on my heart. It had to be Li Xin, the gunslinger, so I didn’t dare to be careless and just grabbed this stone and came back,” he explained.
“The runic symbol on this stone is one of the most commonly used ones among mine explorers.” Zhang Weiyan’s expression changed the moment he saw it. “It can turn sturdy granite into gravel, and it’s used to clear tunnels or destroy walls. It’s meant for construction work.”
“So, this wasn’t an accident.” Lin Chuan analyzed the situation with a dark expression. “The other party carved these runic symbols on the weakest part of the wall and carefully mixed runic ink before pouring it in. They estimated the time we’ll take to reach this place and activated the spirit energy so the wall would collapse and bury us here.”
“Shen Yulong, you mad dog!” Lu Siya was furious. “From now on, we’re mortal enemies, and I won’t stop fighting you until I die!”
Meng Chao took a step forward and cast a fleeting glance at Lin Chuan before he said hesitantly, “Big Sis Ya, are you saying that we’re going to be taking the initiative to attack Universe’s mine exploration team?”
“It’s Universe who attacked us first! If Lin Chuan hadn’t warned us, many of us would have died here already!” Lu Siya’s anger burned hotly, and she swung her hand. “You don’t understand. Since Shen Yulong has chosen to attack us, he will definitely not allow any of us to leave this place alive.
“Otherwise, once his crime was exposed, he would have to face the fury of Sky Pillar Corporation and the Supernatural Tower. The whole Universe Corporation would be dragged down because of him.
“That’s why he has come to the decision to kill us as quickly as possible.
“If we don’t counterattack, we will become corpses in the deepest parts of this dark underground, and no one will ever discover us!”
Lu Siya wanted to push Meng Chao away, but he stood his ground. “Since we already have evidence of Shen Yulong’s criminal acts in our hands, shouldn’t we just get rid of the stones blocking our path with a blast and return from where we came?
“We can then go to the Supernatural Tower and accuse him of this. Since he used such a despicable method to launch a destructive competition, even if he really finds the Red Radiance Jade mine ahead of us, he won’t be able to get the right to mine it first. Otherwise, we would be living in a lawless society.”
“What you said is right, but how can we prove that he’s the one who did it?” Lu Siya asked with a sneer. “We don’t have concrete proof about the corporate spy and the collapse of the wall. I know that we have a stone with a runic symbol carved into it right now, but it’s a commonly seen one, and practically every mine explorer knows how to carve it. If he refuses to admit on the pain of death and says that we were putting up a show, what should we do, then?”
As she spoke, she moved past Meng Chao, drew a shortsword, and cut a stone by the side.
“Everyone, we will never give up on the Red Radiance Jade mine. Not only does this concern our interests and lives, it will also affect our reputation!” she said fiercely.
“Everyone has more or less experienced this sort of thing before. The one who wins has the law behind them, understand? In situations like this, the ones who survive and walk out by taking the initiative have the right of final explanation. And since the dead can’t talk, the living get to smear their name as much as they like.
“Even if we manage to escape, if Shen Yulong discovers the Red Radiance Jade mine first, his status will change, and he will be the great contributor who calmed down the extreme weather and won the northern offense. He will become a hero! At that time, we’ll be the despicable cowards who fled. Who do you think the masses will trust then?
“So, we have no other choice but to continue onward. From this moment on, as long as you see anyone from Universe’s mine exploration team, no matter who they are, kill without mercy.
“The other party has already made up their mind to kill us, and if we continue to be merciful, we will just be asking for our own deaths. We should prefer to face the judges from the court and even the Supernatural Tower, because Sky Pillar Corporation will naturally hire the best lawyers in Dragon City to defend us. That is better than lying down in the cold boxes of the morgues, where we won’t even be able to tell the forensic doctors our grievances.
“Oh, I almost forgot. We’d be dying in this stupid place, where we don’t even have the right to meet the forensic doctor!”
The breathing of the mine explorers and hunters became heavy.
Their greed toward the Red Radiance Jade mine, anger toward their competitors’ despicable methods, fear toward death, numbness toward their fatigue, and all other intersecting emotions along with the continuous spirit energy magnetic field interference made their faces as savage as those of demons. Their teeth and bones started making cracking sounds.
“I hereby announce that if we complete the mission smoothly, I will increase your wages by 30%, and that will be based on your wages after you receive your bonuses!”
Lu Siya seized the chance and added, “If we really run into Shen Yulong and his bastards, whoever kills one of them will get an additional 10%, and if they kill two, they will get 20%. There is no limit to this increase. Whoever kills Shen Yulong will get double their wages. Sky Pillar Corporation will definitely support you till the end!”
Once she said those words, the hunters from Sharp Blade gulped. The light in their eyes became as bright as that of a monster who just saw fresh meat.
“Let’s go. We have to locate the Red Radiance Jade mine ahead of Shen Yulong. If we set up a defensive formation over there, we will be undefeatable.”
Lu Siya withdrew her shortsword from the crack and put it back into her knee-length combat boots. Then, she strode forward into the darkness.
Perhaps it was because bliss always came after a period of misfortune or perhaps it was because anger had turned into a driving force, but two hours after the wall collapsed, they found a brand new cave filled with spirit energy.
That underground space was the size of five soccer fields. Its walls were hidden by black fog.
Even if they turned on their searchlights to the maximum, the light could not pierce the fog and allow them to see the walls.
The height difference of the floor was incredibly great. It was like a giant flight of stairs that continued heading down until it reached the heart of the Other World.
The air was incredibly humid. There were colorful fungi growing all over the place, and all sorts of pests which were not afraid of human voices and light moved about them. Even when they were shone upon by searchlights, they remained dumbly in their spots.
The underground ecosystem was rather well developed. The mine explorers estimated that there should have been an ancient subsurface stream that after billions of years of flowing through the area formed a “staircase” that headed down by creating a cliff.
Due to the rock fragmentation later on, the subsurface stream changed paths. Water flowed down the crack, and that was why there was a damp river bed.
“Look, subsurface plasma!”
Subsurface plasma was not a plant or fungus. It was a phenomenon unique to the Other World.
When the spores from etherealized plants and glowing microorganisms gathered together, spirit energy would stimulate them, and they would form thick, glowing fog. It gathered underground and did not disperse.
Based on the types of spores and microorganisms, the subsurface plasma might contain slightly poisonous, corrosive, or hallucinogenic properties.
Even if it did not have any poisonous side effects, it still affected human vision and was even more annoying than fog.
Lu Siya tested the subsurface plasma, and after she was sure that it did not contain highly poisonous or corrosive properties, she did not hesitate. She asked everyone to jump down the stairs and head into the subsurface plasma.
“I can sense the Red Radiance Jade mine somewhere near the last few steps of this staircase. There’s a very strong spirit energy fluctuation coming from there.
“Besides, if Shen Yulong could predict the time we passed through and create the collapse, it means that he has a way to locate us. They’re in the shadows, and we’re exposed. He might be observing us even now.
“Don’t forget. Beside him is the solo gunslinger Li Xin. He’s a four-star superhuman, and he has the ability to kill people with one shot.
“We have three Heaven Realm elites with us, and we can’t lose any of them. If even one of them is killed by Li Xin, we’ll be in an extremely disadvantageous situation.
“It’d be better to enter the subsurface plasma and use the fog created by the spores and glowing microorganisms to hide our tracks. It’ll take away the two greatest advantages Shen Yulong has over us, and we’ll be able to engage him in melee combat.
“It’ll be better than being sitting ducks here. We might get shot by that gunslinger at any moment!”
Once she said this, everyone felt a chill at the center of their eyebrows. It was as if there was really a gunslinger with a 100% shooting accuracy lurking in the shadows, and a bullet might kiss their brains at any moment.
They shoved each other to be the first to jump down to the “step” that was more than ten meters below the cliff.
Meng Chao glanced at Lin Chuan’s back and jumped down as well.
They jumped down three cliffs. The further down they went, the thicker the subsurface plasma became, and soon, they could not even see their fingers.
“Ah!”
Someone suddenly screamed in surprise and was yanked back by a companion.
The “step” below them was one hundred meters down from where they stood. They were before a true underground cliff. If they leaned over to look, they could not see just what dangers hid at the bottom.